User:Dspelke

About Me

Name: Dawn Spelke

Major: 20 (Biological Engineering)

Minor: 9 (Brain and Cognitive Sciences)

Class Year: 2009

Email: dspelke AT mit DOT edu

Residence: Burton-Conner

Current Subjects

• 20.209
• 7.05
• 6.00
• 9.59
• 9.65

Research

I'm during a UROP in the Samson Lab/ Center for Environmental Health Sciences. We are studying the effects of alkylating agents on retinal degeneration.

Module 1: Genome Engineering

protein	function	re-engineering ideas
I	Assembly	Modifiy the gene so that the channels becomes less selective and thus allow other ions, molecules, and proteins to enter and exit the bacteria- see how this affects the life cycles of both the bacteria and the phage
II	Replication of DNA + strand	Alter the gene to make it more active and thus replicate DNA more frequently- see how increased DNA production affects phage growth
III	Phage tail protein (5 copies)	Modify the proteins that bind to the bacteria (and thus initiate the F pilus and infection) so that the bacteriophage canbind to and infect other types of bacteria- examine the varied life cycles that result
IV	Assembly	Alter the gene in such a way as to destabalize the outer membrane (e.g. no longer detergent-resistant)- test varying environments for phage survival rate
V	Binds ssDNA	Vary the activity of the gene and thus the competition between dsDNA formation and the sequestering of ssDNA- compare the results to find the optimum level of phage production possible
VI	Phage tail protein (5 copies)	Add some sort of tag to the gene that is only visible when p6 is outside of the bacteria- thus we would be able to determine when the phage has been secreted
VII	Phage head protein (5 copies)
VIII	Phage coat protein (2700 copies)
IX	Phage head protein (5 copies)
X	DNA replication
XI	Assembly